Adjustable rule mechanism



- March 17, 1936.

E. E. THIEL 2,034,161

ADJUSTABLE RULE MECHANISM Filed June 9, 1933 NVENTOR,

Hi ZW ATTORNEY$.

Patented Mar. 17, 1936 ATENT 0F E ADJUSTABLE ants MECHANISM Emil E. Thiel, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignorto The Printing Machinery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio,

a corporation of Ohio Application June 9, 1933, Serial No. 675,101

2 Claims.

My invention relates to adjustable scoring, crimping, perforating and cutting rule mechanism either to be used in combination with a printing press or as a self contained unit in which paper or board in sheet or web form, may be crimped, scored, perforated or cut, for forming containers, cartons, bags and the like.

The usual mechanism for scoring, crimping, perforating and cutting paper or board sheets or webs for forming cartons and the like are rolls having the rules or knives for operating on the sheets fixed to the rolls. Unless the scoring or other operations are performed by rules which extend circumferentially around the roll, it has been customary to provide for lines formed transverse to the direction of feed of the sheet, rolls with permanently fixed rules or knives extending lengthwise of the rolls. Usually the sheets of stock are drawn between rolls which are in peripheral engagement and a male rule on one roll seats within a female rule on another. The rules have ordinarily been formed or mounted in fixed position on the rolls so that for each change of size of the blank or of the scoring or perforating new rolls must be installed.

It is the object of my invention to provide rolls which will have rules, or knives which extend lengthwise of the rolls and which are adjustably mounted on the periphery of the rolls so that it will be unnnecessary to provide special rolls for each different scoring, crimping, perforating or cutting operation. It is another object of my invention to so mount the rules or knives that they may be reversed in position and thus fitted in close to each other for operations which require closely spaced crimped, scored, perforated or cut lines extending transversely to their direction of feed. Still another object of my invention is the provision of a novel type of roll for retaining transverse extending knives or rules which will be simple and effective to adjust.

The above objects and others to which reference will be made in the following description I accomplish by that combination of parts of which I will illustrate and describe a preferred modification,

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pair of rolls showing my novel mounting for a scoring rule.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the rolls shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of my scoring rule holders.

Figure 4 is a sectional view showing my preferred mounting for a scoring rule.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the sliding clamping nut.

An upper feed roll I, and a lower feed roll 2, are mounted on shafts 3 and 4 respectively, and as indicated in Figure 2, the rolls move in opposite directions, the top ro-ll moving in clockwise'direction as indicated by the arrows, and the bottom roll in a counter-clockwise direction. The rolls are provided with dove-tailed peripheral grooves 5, which have openings 6 therein of a size equivalent to the base of the dove-tailed grooves so that a nut 9 may be inserted withinthe opening 6 and slide around within the peripheral grooves 5.

Plates 'I are provided which have curved undersurfaces 8, corresponding to the curvature of the rolls.

A series of nuts 9 are placed within the grooves and as many plates I as are required are secured to the nuts 9 in a desired spaced position. Screws Ill, extend down through openings I I in the plates 1, and the threaded ends of the screws I 0 engage the nuts 9, and as the screws are tightened up, the plates 1 are held in the desired position. Plates l have recessed portions I2 for receiving cutting, scoring or perforating rules I4. The plates have threaded openings I5 which receive set screws I5, which bear against the side surfaces of the rules and thus cause them to remain in fixed position.

A particular feature of my proposed construction is that the plates 1 may be reversed in position as shown in Figure 2, thereby enabling the rules I4 to be brought much closer together than would otherwise be possible were the plates not reversible on the rolls.

In Figure 2, I have shown two plates mounted in .a position in which one plate is reversed as to the other. Thus in the lower roll the plate 1 is mounted with the attaching screw ID to the left of the position in which the rule is mounted. The other plate I is reversed in position, and as the distance from the line of the rule to the edge of the plate as shown in Figure 4, is much less when measured to the edge of the plate on the right than to the edge of the plate on the left, it is possible to position the rules I4 quite close together, the distance between the rules being dependent on the distance from the rule to the closest edge of the plate multiplied by two.

In Figure 2 the rule I4, during the scoring operation, seats within recessed grooves I1 on the cooperating plate.

As has been stated, the rules may be for cutting, for scoring, or for perforating, and a wide variety of different types of sheet material may be out, scored or perforated, such as bags, cartons, boxes and the like.

' In combination with a printing press, or a bag machine, the adjustability of the rules and their supporting plates circumferentially around the feed rollers is a matter of very great convenience, as it avoids the necessity of making different rollers for each different job of scoring, cutting or perforating.

Heretofore as has been stated, circular rules having a diameter and circumferential size of the rolls on which they have been mounted, have been mounted as annuli, but heretofore to the best of my knowledge and belief, no one has been able to mount cutting, scoring and perforating rules in a position extending longitudinally of the feed rollers.

As has been stated, while my novel mechanism forms a convenient accessory for a printing press, it may be used with equal success on other sheet treating machines. It will, of course, be readily possible with my proposed construction to mount different kinds of rules on the same rolls so that perforating, crimping, scoring and cutting can be accomplished in the same operation on the sheet material passing between the feed rolls.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

- 1. In the combination of a roll and a rule to be mounted on said roll and to extend in the general direction of the axis of the roll, to be readily adjustable circumferentially of the roll and said roll having a plurality of circumferential grooves therein, each of dovetail cross section, a rule mounting having means to hold a rule therein, nut members each to accurately fit the cross section of a respective groove, and screws passing through said rule mounting, each screw being threaded into a respective nut member and adapted to wedge the nut member in the groove and thereby hold the rule mounting rigidly to the roll surface, but each nut member being adapted to freely slide around in its groove for adjustment of the rule mounting when the screw is loosened.

2. In the combination of a roll and a scoring or cutting die to be mounted on said roll and to extend in the general direction of the axis of the roll, to be readily adjustable circumferentially of the roll, said roll having a plurality of circumferential grooves therein, each groove having a dovetail cross section, a scoring or cutting die, nut members each configured to fit the cross section of a respective groove, and screws passing through said scoring or cutting die, each screw being threaded into a respective nut member to wedge the nut member into the groove and thereby to hold the scoring or cutting die rigidly to the roll surface, but'each nut member being adapted to freely slide around in the groove for adjustment when the screw is loosened, said roll having opposite portions of the undercut walls of the groove omitted, leaving an entrance and exit space "at least largeenough to permit insertion and removal of the respective nut member into and from the groove. 

